A new era in recycling and eco-friendly energy is on the way with a state-of-the-art bio-fuels plant being built in Co Wexford.

Irish wave energy company Wavebob Ltd has today announced that it has agreed to provide technical consulting services to Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV), a division of Chevron USA, with regard to the conversion of ocean wave energy into useful power.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey today welcomed the announcement by eircom that it is committing an extra €30m to allow up to 140,000 new customers to connect to a broadband-enabled exchange.

THERE’S a famous conversation in one of the Sherlock Holmes short stories.

Providence, the oil and gas exploration and production company, has agreed its first farm-out deal with Challenger Minerals (Celtic Sea) Ltd, a subsidiary of GlobalSantaFe Corporation on its Spanish Point Project in the Porcupine Basin, off the west coast.

Union leaders at ESB are to seek a meeting with Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey over controversial plans to change rules on electricity transmission.

The Government has published an ambitious new target to have one-third of Ireland's electricity supply coming from renewable sources by 2020.

THE lessons learnt from the Celtic Tiger are to be put to use in an ambitious €365 million research project to revolutionise the maritime economy.

IRISH energy business Viridian Group has welcomed an initiative by Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey to secure further independent power generation in the Irish market.

Noel Dempsey, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, said today that he is concerned about the risk of electricity black-outs.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey today announced that sixteen biofuels projects are to be granted excise relief under a recently launched excise relief programme valued at over €200m.

A new €1.6m extension to An Post’s national parcel processing facility at Portlaoise Mails Centre was officially opened today by Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey.

IN August I wrote to Noel Dempsey, in his capacity as Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, to ask why he would not consider a visit to the Rossport/Bellanaboy area to see the situation for himself and to speak with the local people.

IT was July, probably around the mid to late 1970s. My mother piled us children into the car, drove down to the pier in An Spidéal in Galway to buy a few freshly caught salmon from the trawlers and half-deckers as they returned.

A three-strong Independent Working Group set up to examine the precipitous decline in salmon stocks suggested a ban on all drift-net fishing of salmon to the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey.

The British and Irish governments should pursue an all-island energy policy, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey said today.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey today launched an initiative aiming to treble the output of renewable electricity to 15% of total electricity consumed in Ireland by 2010.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey has announced that broadband is to be made available to the last 15% to 20% of the population where it is currently uneconomic to do so.

IRELAND was last night on course for a green energy revolution as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledged to more than double electricity production from renewable sources by 2020.

Opposition TDs today called on the Government to beef up the National Consumer Agency to stave off a potential 10% hike in the price of everyday goods over the winter.

EXPERTS yesterday called for more funding to identify areas most at risk from landslides.

Figures from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) show that the contribution from renewable energy sources to gross electricity consumption increased in 2005.

DX Ireland has scrapped plans to enter the door-to-door mail delivery market in Ireland.

SCHEMES to support the purchase of specialised biomass harvesting and processing machinery, and the planting of short-rotation willow coppice as a source of energy, are likely to be announced shortly by the Department of Agriculture and Food.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey today inaugurated the new Irish Energy Research Council at an event in Dublin Castle today.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, today announced a new grant aid scheme of up to €22m for commercial renewable heat technologies.

Ireland is importing 90% more energy than last year according to provisional figures announced by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

NOEL DEMPSEY, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, has launched a discussion paper on broadband demand in Ireland.

TAXPAYERS will have to fork out at least €70,000 for the Advantica report commissioned by the Government into the safety of the proposed controversial Shell onshore gas pipeline in north Mayo.

THE Government and the opposition should work together to tackle long- term energy problems, the Green Party said yesterday.

IT dawned on me this week why the Comptroller and Auditor General publishes a report on the overspending by various Government departments every year.

THE Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, has announced that a consortium lead by Waterford Institute of Technology have been designated as the National Centre for IPv6 in Ireland.

Reason prevailed in the High Court yesterday with the release of the so-called Rossport Five after 94 days in jail because of their opposition to Shell’s Corrib gas pipeline.

TADHG O’Donoghue has been reappointed ESB chairman for a further five years.

Leading businessman Tadhg O’Donoghue has been reappointed as Chairman of the ESB for a further five-year period by the Government, it emerged today.

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte today proposed a plan to resolve the plight of the five men jailed over their protests against a controversial gas pipeline, which he said was bordering on becoming a national disgrace.

The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, today re-affirmed his commitment to the introduction of postcodes as he announced the National Postcode Project Board has convened for the first time.

OBJECTORS to the controversial Mayo gas pipeline have described as too little, too late a ministerial order forcing Shell to dismantle a three-kilometre pipeline.

Five protesters against gas pipelines being built by Shell in the west of Ireland were returned to jail today after an attempted peace deal failed.

Five men jailed for refusing to end their protest against a controversial gas pipeline are due back in court today, as the Government launches a new safety review of the project.

Evelyn Ring and Caroline O’Doherty

AROUND 1,000 people joined a protest in Castlebar in Co Mayo yesterday over the jailing of five farmers who stopped the Shell Corrib gas pipeline from going through their land.

The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, and his Northern Ireland counterpart, Angela Smith met today in Limavady and reaffirmed their commitment to the All-Island Energy Market and the importance of the Single Electricity Market (SEM).

The main players in the telecoms industry will meet on Friday, May 13 to discuss the level of broadband roll out and debate the problems in the new marketplace.